At a recent event, one of our staff had the unfortunate incident of being stuck with a pen that no longer worked at a critical moment. Earlier there had been a frenzy when the rest of the team scavenged all available pens, thus the shortage. As this happened to be a gel pen, it was thought that wetting the tip of the pen might help the ink to flow again or would dislodge anything clogging the end. As no water was handy, this was done by placing the pen in the mouth. It was at this moment the pen decided to empty like a squid, leaving our poor staff member with a mouthful of black ink. This was not a opportune time to run to the washroom, and no tissues were to be had. Drastic measures had to be taken, short of swallowing the ink that is. We desperately looked around and luckily we noticed we had a black napkin laying on a table…black ink does not show on a black napkin. The problem was resolved quickly, discreetly, and the show went on. The napkin on the other hand was thrown in the garbage and added to our own bill.

The lesson to be learned here would primarily be to hoard more than one pen for yourself, or just use a pencil.